The Hundredth Question

Interloper #2

by Steven William Hannah

The crew of the Icebreaker have suffered at the hands of the Dreamers, but now they have Messenger, leader of the Dreamer cult, in custody. The answers that they seek are within their grasp, but things may not be so simple. Not all is as it seems in the city of Union, and as Bear delves into the mysteries surrounding the phenomenon that afflicts the coast, he comes up against forces that defy his understanding of reality. To find what he is looking for, Bear must learn to use both science and shamanism before he - and possibly everybody else in the Union - suffers the same fate as his father.

"The Hundredth Question" is the second entry in the Interloper Trilogy, a tale of shamanism and mystery that charts a willing leap into madness and mystery in search of answers, with grave consequences for what is left of humanity.

301 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 8, 2021

Reviews

[Brent Matley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bear and the crew of the Icebreaker return in 'The Hundredth Question', this time chasing another supernatural threat facing this icy apocalyptic world. Steven hits it out of the park every time! While many may see a middle book in a trilogy as a connective tissue, one that slows down and meanders—that does not happen here! I lapped up every page, the action, tension and mystery all connect perfectly. Steven is an excellent story-teller and writer!

I thoroughly enjoyed returning to the characters of Bear, Bee, Dusty, Glass and Messenger, not to mention a few other intriguing characters too—I will let you discover them for yourselves. The dialogue and relationships are realistic, their backstories multi-layered and interesting. Each crew member brings their strengths and flaws to the table. The star of the show is also the world—post apocalyptic Scotland is excellently realised, I felt the chill of Union City coming off the pages. Overall, fantastic world-building yet again.

The twists and turns throughout this book kept me hooked throughout—with many questions being brought to the table, Steven superbly blends this all-together to make for an outstanding second entry into the series.

I highly recommend you check out this series if post-apocalyptic supernatural and psychedelic sci-fi sounds up your street.

5*

[Zack Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

SWH is a madman and a wizard. Dope stuff as always. Had a few small issues with the middle and the ending, but the climax, worldbuilding, and just all around tension... swh cooked

[Anselm Patey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic follow up to the first book. This trilogy captivates me in the same way as Chris Wooding's Tales of the Ketty Jay: a varied and interesting cast with no weak links, working as a crew despite differences in outlook and agenda. Though whereas Wooding's books are more about the capers and 'more luck than judgement' victories, Hannah's story has a much more cerebral timbre, a much bleaker setting (in a way that is engagingly oppressive and keeps the threat ever present) and delivers an intellectual subtext that is incredibly satisfying. One of my favourite elements is that the central protagonist, Bear, is much more a scientist than an adventurer. While his particular brand of logical rationalism is often what helps the team prevail, his success is also dependant on recognising that there is more than one kind of intelligence a person may possess.

This fascinating sort of intellectual ecumenism is a refreshing way of bringing together characters with very different ideas, and a welcome relief from the well-worn trope of 'science overcomes faith' or vice versa. In particular, the dynamic between Bear and his erstwhile antagonist, Messenger, is delightfully complicated and keeps you guessing.

The prose is smooth and effortless, neither overelaborate nor lacking in detail. Every plot device is deployed with nuance and plausibility. It's a wonderfully written story in a fascinating, well-conceived dystopian future and populated with engaging, eminently believable characters. It's 5 stars and straight on to book 3 for me.

[E.L. Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even more so than Icebreaker, THQ is very fast paced but also very well paced. There’s a lot of building up of tension/suspense with release at the right moments. Every sentence pulls you along and there are plenty of mysteries for those of us who like to make guesses while reading. It was unpredictable in a lot of ways, but I never felt as if anything that happened wasn’t well founded earlier in the prose.

While reading the first book, I had kind of thought that this was just a nice foray into fun action with fun characters, but this second book showed a bit more depth in the themes and characters without detracting any from the action. The character backgrounds are explored and that helps to really ground them and explain things that were present in the first book while hinting at where the third book might take them.

Glass’ character development was really enjoyable, and Glass sort of overtook the rest of the characters as my favorite of the good guys by the halfway point.

The elements of sci-fi and fantasy that bleed into the edges of the postapocalyptic setting and plot are wonderful. You get little notions and suspicions at first, and soon it develops into solid evidence of things. Nothing is ever just stated outright from the start, which makes it almost like a mystery novel, but more fun.

I was truly surprised at the book’s ending, a wonderful twist, and at the resolution there.

[E.J. J Doble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as good as the first, this series has absolutely blown me away so far. Bear's story, and the connections with his fellow survivors in the harsh world of post-Cataclysm earth, are as vivid and alive as any I've read. The dialogue is snappy; the world is real; the tension and themes are absolutely terrifying, and the unease dripping through this book is excellent. But the plot is what sends this book, and series, to the top levels for me: well constructed, interwoven, richly varied and superbly interesting, I'm left asking questions and unravelling the story as the characters do.

Seriously, seriously impressed 👏🏼

[Franklin Schumpert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished this in 3 days!

I read book 1, “Icebreaker” and now finished up this one “The Hundredth Question.” As usual, Steven William Hannah captured my attention by his concise and elegant prose. No word is left hanging around that isn’t absolutely necessary and “The Hundredth Question” is a fine example of the author’s mastery of his craft.

“The Hundredth Question” picks right up where the first book left off. The story delves deeper with the first book’s antagonist, Messenger, and the crew of the Icebreaker must have his help to overcome an even greater threat than the Dreamers in “Icebreaker.”

Their is a HUGE spoiler I’m not going to reveal but it’s totally worth getting and reading.

So far I’m happy with the story and am reading book 3 “Under the Oak” I can’t recommend this book, and the series enough!

[Hûw Steer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great follow-up to *Icebreaker,* delving into the wider world of Hannah's post-apocalyptic Scotland in delightfully dark detail. Not to be outdone by his own terrifying Phenomenon, Hannah writes Bear's struggle with his inevitable hundred questions in a genuinely frightening manner. I've seldom been so concerned as when he stopped explicitly counting and left it to me, the reader, to track Bear's doom.

I couldn't write this review without having finished *Under the Oak,* too, because it's very much setup for that finale. And this is the only aspect in which the book suffers for me, because while it's a damn fine read, it doesn't raise the stakes enough for a gripping conclusion in book 3. There was room for a lot more to go wrong and thus leave our heroes teetering on the brink of ruin - but on the whole, the threat level stays where it was in *Icebreaker.*

Not that this is much of a problem. That was absolutely deadly enough for any band of heroes, let alone Hannah's intrepid bunch of bastards.

[Nick Snape · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hundredth Question – actually the first question I asked myself is why I had waited so long to delve back into this superb, dystopian world of shamanism and science. From the off, book two of the Interloper series drops in where the first ended. A tired, battered crew, thrown once again into a mystery full of action and mysticism. And to cap it all, Hannah bases most of it within the same city, rather than the sprawling chase of book one – and it works so well. We once again follow Bear as the main POV ‒ a rich and conflicted character who drags you through the murky plot and shares his discoveries about the Phenomenon, the mysterious Messenger and a storyline thick with twists and turns that leaves you guessing until the very end. Hannah ties the pieces together superbly, as well as fleshing out the side characters, and by the end, you are desperate to know what happens next. Excellent, 5/5.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hundredth Question (Book 2 of The Interloper Trilogy) is even better and more exciting than Icebreaker (Book 1). There is some fantastic plot development that happens in this middle entry, and we learn even more about the characters we’ve met in the first book—and meet several new characters who become central to the story. Some questions are answered, but as expected, more are raised. We are shown glimpses of what I know will be key elements in the finale, and I can’t wait to see how this story concludes. [5 out of 5]

[Sean McGillis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Journey Continues

If you enjoyed Icebreaker,  you're in for more of the same and then some!

Development of the existing characters is superb, and new characters are brought into the mix. Same as the last story, I really enjoyed Steven William Hannah's dialogue.

The plot has many neat and clever twists,  although some aren't entirely shocking. The end of book two sets up for what should be a rousing end to this tale.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

This book really was a masterpiece. I look forward to the next in this series. What I love, in Hannah’s writing is it constantly keeps me guessing and engaged. Wish this whole series could be a movie.

[Michi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. But the lack of editing at times can be distracting. Missing spaces or duplicated words as examples.

[E. P. Soulless · Rating 5 out of 5]

I swear, I'm not [DATA REDACTED].

twenty-three. sev en t e e n.

Did you just hear that? No?

...

The Numbers-Men are after me, send he—